I don't think the grunts were going to know much- it's not their job, and would be a liability. Vader, Tarkin, and the Emperor don't seem like a trio likely to bother with running prisons, especially when the people in it are officially "dead" in the senate records.

I guess I never got that they were executed by Vader saying, inform the Senate all aboard were killed... I thought it was a ploy to get at Rebel sympathizers or destroy hope since Leia was 'killed' too. But it makes sense that they offed them.

There are prison worlds in some of the EU stories. As I recall, the people they found on those prison worlds were thought dead by the general public because the Empire didn't want anyone looking for them. Considering the vast amount of food, fuel, and raw materials the Empire needed for their war machine, that explanation kind of makes sense and would be a likely outcome for the rest of the crew. That said, there weren't all that many survivors - might be just as easy to feed 'em to the Dewbacks.

I'm guessing dead since they probably wouldn't want any witnesses to that incident. There seemed to be some bickering that indicated Leia could make an argument and someone would defend her.

The OT, especially ANH era, really seemed to have a much more complex political system to it than simply, "The EMpire ruled everything and that was that".

Vader seemed like he was doing some kind of CIA cover-up with the whole thing...

It's funny how the mystery of the OT political system is so much more interesting than the crammed-down-your-throat political system of the PT. ANH hints at a lot of complexities... T he Imperial Senate seemed to still clearly have power over Palpatine that he couldn't just up and tell to piss off. The "beaucracy" kept the galaxy in order, not Palps... Interesting really, but you didn't have to have 50% of any of the films show you this in action for you to get it. Just a couple dialogue lines set that up.

I just took it that the Empire had some concern about pushing people towards the rebellion. If they continued to give some power to the senate, that might be enough to appease a fair amount of the galaxy's citizens. Disbanding the senate was likely to drive these systems to rebel - why continue to give their support, materials, money etc. to the Empire if their people have no say? The meeting on the DS seemed to indicate some concern for this - how will the Empire maintain control without the bureaucracy? Regional governors would be needed to oversee and keep them in line. Even with all that firepower they were fearful of uprisings and felt they needed the Death Star to prevent retaliation. I never really thought much about that as a kid, but there were countless planets with billions and billions of people on each. It wouldn't take more than a handful of dedicated planets to put up one hell of a fight if you could get them organized and mobilized. That's pretty much how it went down too, with the Dresselians, Calmari, Bothans, Wookies, etc. joining up to defeat the Empire.

I also think the Emperor probably foresaw potential futures where the rebels were successful, so he probably initially did all he could to make sure they didn't get any added support or grow too big. By ANH, he's either confident enough in the Empire's military, especially with the death star backing it, or he's just tired of placating others.

Speaking of the crew, what do you guys think of the droids seen leaving the ship with the crew? Rebel comrades of R2-D2, or Imperial droids brought on board to search the ship's computers?

Traditionally they have been called Imperial droids, but I always thought it was noteworthy that it looked liked they were being escorted under guard like the crew. Stormies left first, then the droids, then the crew, then more stormies. It also seems likely that the Tantive IV would have had more than just one R2 unit, like how the Naboo Cruiser had 6 droids. We also didn't really see what happened with the other 3P0 unit from the start of the attack.

For those of you that think the Rebels were executed, why do you think they were taken prisoner at all? Why not just blow them away up front? If they're going to be questioned then killed, why allow yourself to be captured knowing that this is how the Empire handles things? Surely word of how they handle these situations has gotten around...

I don't think it's how they always handle things... I think it's how they're handling it with Leia's crew due to the sensitive info... Find out what they know, or don't, and off them to be sure, say it was an accident... no fuss no muss.

I don't think it's how they always handle things... I think it's how they're handling it with Leia's crew due to the sensitive info... Find out what they know, or don't, and off them to be sure, say it was an accident... no fuss no muss.

Well, there's no way any of them memorized the schematics or likely even had time to look at them, let alone figure out a weakness. Why not just send them off to whatever secret labor camps they have if that's the typical M.O.? I guess it's a moot point since it's never covered and didn't really happen. I just don't buy storylines where bad guys go to the trouble of taking someone prisoner just to go kill their prisoners somewhere else.

I think rounding up the crew falls under the "tear this ship apart" area. It would make sense to lock up and search all of the people on board to make sure no one was holding the plans before they were killed. I doubt very much there were survivors.

Well, there's no way any of them memorized the schematics or likely even had time to look at them, let alone figure out a weakness. Why not just send them off to whatever secret labor camps they have if that's the typical M.O.? I guess it's a moot point since it's never covered and didn't really happen. I just don't buy storylines where bad guys go to the trouble of taking someone prisoner just to go kill their prisoners somewhere else.

I don't think anyone memorized them either, but why chance that? You've sent Vader out to get them, personally, so I would think that alone is testament to how important the mission is... Being thorough is probably a good assumption then.

I think it could be very likely the droids are Rebels by the way, also being taken away to be "interrogated". Or scanned. Or whatever droids get.

As far as having time to look at them though, I've not really seen anything indicating that one way or the other. It could've been a very short period of time, or the pursuit could've taken quite a while with maybe different hyper jumps and the Destroyer only catches up to them in the Tatooine system. I know one source indicates the plans are picked up by a Rebel listening post that sort of examines them and sends them off quickly to the Tantive IV, and a pursuit is on from there then, but that it didn't seem to be an immediate thing where the Tantive IV themselves steal the plans from the Empire... Someone else gets them and transmits them. Who knows though, that's probably got 3 completely different stories to it.

It just seems most logical to me that the crew's taken, interrogated, and killed with a "cover-up" excuse so it looks like an accident... Plus killed so they don't ever possibly expose what happened. But also, interrogated because they may reveal other information too, that the Empire wants, beyond the DS's plans. They're still looking for the base and all.

But mostly to me, it goes to the idea that the galaxy's government at that time is more complex than simply Palpatine ruling everything and nobody having a say... They were covering it up for a reason. Leaving anything to chance seems sloppy on Vader's part who strikes me as simply a thorough guy.

Then again, this is the same organization that refuses to react as even a precautionary move when it's revealed that the Rebels have found something vulnerable, and are attempting to attack that something.